Gene Michael is an adviser to Yankees miniboss Hank Steinbrenner these days. When Curt Schilling was emerging as one of the great control freaks — on and off the mound — “Stick” was the Yankees’ general manager.

“I tried to trade for him,” Michael was saying during a rain delay that turned the Phillies’ media and officials dining room into an any-port-in-storm. News of Schilling’s blogignation had replaced Davey Johnson’s curious and inept managing of Team USA in Sunday night’s World Baseball Classic debacle as the No. 1 topic of conversation. “I kept calling Lee (Phils GM Lee Thomas) and asking if Curt was available. He’d kind of laugh at me and say, ’No way.’ But one day I called and Lee said, ’If Schilling comes up here one more time trying to run my ballclub, he’s going on the market.’”

Schilling kept telling anybody who would listen that he wanted to stay in Philly, but only if they made a clear commitment to winning that included spending more money to obtain better players. Sometimes, Schil would call his favorite talk-radio station from his auto on the way to Veterans Stadium, and enumerate his many gripes. This was fingernails on the blackboard stuff to a front office that has always been loath to have its dirty laundry publicized, particularly by a 1993 hero who had become a face of the franchise.

It’s an interesting scenario: If Curt Schilling had become a member of the New York Yankees, say, in 1995, how would that have changed all the post-seasons from 1995 through 2004? Think about it…